Getting started
Glossary
Short explanations of the terms you’ll see in Termbit and in this documentation.
- Broadcast Input
- Sends what you type to every terminal pane in the current tab at the same time, so you can run the same command on several servers at once. Turn it on and off with ⌘B.
- Environment
- A label such as Production, Staging or Development that you give to hosts. The sidebar can show your hosts by environment instead of by group, and each environment has its own color.
- Favorites
- Hosts you star so they always appear at the top of the sidebar.
- FIDO2 security key
- A hardware device, such as a YubiKey, that keeps your private SSH key and never lets it leave the device. Depending on how you set it up, signing in asks you to touch the key, enter its PIN, or both.
- Group
- A way to sort hosts in the sidebar, for example by project or by purpose. Each group has its own icon and color. Groups are a single level and don’t contain other groups.
- Host
- A server you connect to, saved with its address, port, username and sign-in method. A host can belong to a group and an environment, and can have tags and notes.
- Identity
- A username together with a password or SSH key that you save once and assign to many hosts. Change the identity, and every host that uses it picks up the change on its next connection.
- Inspector
- The panel on the right side of the window. Depending on what you’re doing, it shows host or file details, terminal search, snippets, file transfers or the hosts in a workspace. Show or hide it with the button at the top right of the window. ⌘I opens or closes its Info tab.
- Jump host
- An intermediate server that Termbit connects through to reach a host you can’t reach directly, such as a server inside a private network. Also known as a bastion host.
- Known host
- A server whose identity you have confirmed. Termbit remembers the server’s host key on the first connection and warns you if it ever changes, which can be a sign that something is wrong.
- Port forwarding rule
- A saved SSH tunnel: local, remote or dynamic (SOCKS). You start and stop it from the Port Forwarding screen, and it keeps running even without an open terminal.
- Quick Connect
- A way to connect to
user@host:portright away, without saving a host first. - Snippet
- A saved command or script. You can paste it into the terminal, run it in the current session or run it in every connected session.
- SSH key
- A pair of keys used to sign in to servers without a password: the private key stays in Termbit, the public key goes on the server. Termbit can generate new keys or import the ones you already have.
- Tag
- A short free-form label on a host. Tags help you find hosts quickly with search and filters.
- Vault
- The encrypted storage on your Mac where Termbit keeps your hosts, passwords, SSH keys, identities, snippets, workspaces and everything else you save. It stays on your Mac: there’s no account or cloud copy.
- Vault key
- The key that encrypts your vault. It is stored in the macOS Keychain, and you can export it as a backup. It is not the same as an SSH key: it protects your data in Termbit and is never used to sign in to servers.
- Workspace
- A saved set of hosts that open together in one tab. You can switch between them or show them side by side in Split View.